Terminator 3

Since its two predecessors rank amongst the best sci-fi movies of the last twenty years, the third instalment of the Terminator franchise was always going to be a mighty tough act to pull off. That it's an enjoyable, if rather forgettable, excursion shouldn't be considered a failure, as T3's director, Jonathan Mostow (U-571; Breakdown) does the best anyone could have realistically expected with a franchise that had run its natural course. Essentially a riff on the events of Judgment Day, T3 sees John Connor (now played with wiry intelligence by Nick Stahl) "living off the grid" as he's still afraid that the events that he apparently halted a decade previous will occur. He's right to be fearful as those nasty Skynet sorts have indeed sent back another hi-tech killing machine, the TX (Kristanna Loken), a foxy female who sports a nice line in red leather catsuits. Of course, the resistance has despatched an old skool Terminator to protect Connor, and his future wife, veterinarian Kate Brewster (Claire Danes).

When a film's first major action sequence, barely 15 minutes in, sees what appears to be half of downtown Los Angeles being destroyed by a hydraulic crane engaged in a high speed pursuit, it's pretty evident that exercising the audience's grey matter is not top of the director's objectives. To his credit, Mostow goes about filming his collection of outrageous action sequences with skill and some humour, while allowing the campest elements of the title character to develop. With one eye on the governorship of California, Schwarzenegger has a whale of a time; even if his nemesis, as physically alluring as she is, doesn't really it cut it as a killing machine. The ending is curiously downbeat but you sense that this one could run and run.